The Travelers
by Aunna
Summary: What if George was still a child when Aunt Clara died? How would things go then? Sometimes, happy endings for orphans are possible.


**The Travelers**

Most people never looked twice at the unlikely duo. A man that was taller than Abraham Lincoln with his top hat on and a little boy that looked like a fruit fly compared to him. The boy often walked ahead of the man, leading him along and telling him what everything was. Most parents just assumed that the man was letting the boy explore the world and tell him of his findings. But others, those parents who are constantly judging other parents, noticed the truth about the two. The man was no more than a child in an adult's body, the child telling him not to confirm that he understood, but to see if the man understood.

The man's name was Lennie and he was a rancher. He had worked on farms since he was a child, but there was always something off about him. His aunt, the one who raised him, had blamed it on a kick to the head by a horse when he was just a tot, but everyone knew the truth long before she died. The man was mentally retarded and it was a surprise that he was still living, much less the so called guardian of a child who was mentally the same age as he.

The boy's name was George and he helped his 'father' on the various ranches he worked on. He was the one who handled the work cards and the money. He was the one who went and bought food with the little money they did earn and he was the one who taught Lennie about the world around him. Lennie's Aunt Clara had taught him before he taught Lennie and, even though it was two years after she died; George remembered everything she told him. Clara had often told him that he was smart enough to become someone important, but he didn't really know if that was possible, especially since he and Lennie barely had enough money to get by, much less pay for him to go to a fancy school to teach him new things.

Lennie had been the one to find George eight years ago, near the rural areas of New York, where Aunt Clara was staying with a friend until she could find her own place. The man, then a teenager, had been looking for a mouse to pet when he stumbled upon a wicker basket that held the now orphan baby. He had grabbed the baby and petted him all the way back to Aunt Clara, who had immediately taken the little boy away from Lennie before he squashed his skull like he did the mice she gave him. Then she had lectured him for taking things that didn't belong to him and put out a found poster in a nearby town.

They waited two weeks before they decided that the parents had abandoned him and they adopted him into their family. Lennie had liked the name George, so Aunt Clara had named him George Ashton Small. And they were a family for six years, until cancer took the life of Aunt Clara and the boys lost the only home they had ever known.

The two traveled everywhere together. They had seen the factories in Detroit, the rodeos of Texas, and accidently stumbled across Mardi Gras before. George would play cute and innocent in front of venders when they needed food and they would happily hand over the food. That was how they normally got enough to eat between jobs.

Everything had been great for George and Lennie until the Tyler Ranch job. Within three days, George's world had been completely changed. The eight-year-old had watched as it seemed that his and Lennie's dream seemed to be in their grasps and then cruelly ripped away by Lennie's innocence and brute strength. Curley had grabbed George and made him watch as he killed the only family George had left.

That was how he ended up where he was today, bawling his eyes out in Slim's arm while he heard Curley and the boss screaming at each other outside. Candy was sitting next to them, running the fingers of his good hand through George's hair. Neither said a word, but George felt a little less alone with the two men around.

"Was the really necessary Curley?"

"He killed my wife!"

"And what did the kid do?"

"He needed to know what happens to people like that big mother fucker!"

"So you killed him in front of his own kid!"

"Bullshit! You know that kid ain't his!"

"Do you think the kid knows that?"

"Who cares? He's just a worthless little orphan!"

George cringed at the words. People had been telling him that for years and the words rarely stung anymore but, coming from Curley, they stung worse than the very first time he had heard them. The volume of his sobs and wails increased, causing Slim to tighten his hold around the little boy. Candy muttered something indiscernible because of George's cries, but it seemed that Slim had heard him as the two leapt into conversation.

Random words from the older men's conversation stood out to George when he finally became too tired to cry any more. Words like money, adoption, land, and rabbits. George knew that they were talking about him and what they were going to do with him, but he couldn't find it in his heart to care. He was alone in the world, no better than the people he used to tell Lennie about when they were on the train.

He wished Curley would have killed him too.

When George woke up, he wasn't in his bunk. He was on something much warmer and firmer. He blinked sleepily and glanced around, trying to remember where he was and why he was there and not in his bunk. His eyes roamed the room, falling onto Lennie's cot before remembering the events of yesterday. Lennie was dead, killed by Curley all because George couldn't move fast enough to warn him.

He sniffled and hiccupped, trying not to let the tears fall down. He had to be a big boy now; there wasn't any time for him to be a cry baby. Looking down, George realized he was sleeping on Slim and yelped, tumbling off the man and onto the floor.

The resounding crash from George's fall woke Slim in an instant. He shot out of bed and looked around for the source of the sound. The whimpers from the other side of the cot caught his attention and he leant over to see what it was.

When he saw George clutching his arm and tears beginning to leak from his eyes yesterday's events came rushing back. Slim gently lifted George into his arms, taking care to avoid jostling the arm that George had somehow hurt, and sat down on the cot. "How ya doin' today George?" he asked.

"I want… I want mah Lennie!" George stated, "I know he gone, but I want 'im Slim!"

"I'm sorry kid." Slim said, "Mind if I look at ya arm?"

George sniffled before handing the limb to the man. Slim looked all over and didn't notice what was wrong until he laid a hand on George's shoulder, which caused him to flinch. "Ya shoulder's outta place." Slim said, "We're gonna hafta put it back."

George got confused when Slim told him to go grab a stick from outside and even more when he came back and was told to bite down on it. Then, as soon as the stick was firmly in his mouth, Slim pushed against his shoulder, causing pain that George had never felt before. His scream was muffled by the stick, but a new wave of tears couldn't be held back, causing Slim to gain a guilty look in his eyes. No words were spoken as the man wrapped his arm into a sling with an old burlap sack or as he held George close to his chest.

Then Slim told him of the dream George had with Lennie and how they were going to make it come true when the end of the month came by. How Slim, Candy, Crooks, and him were going to buy a piece of land and live off of it and get lots of rabbits. George only nodded, feeling sleepy now that he was back in Slim's arms.

It was no shock to the people at Tyler's Ranch when they left at the end of the month. The real shock was when, just as the men were to board a train to their new home, the boss came up and handed George a rabbit and told him to take good care of him. It was pure white with bright blue eyes. George had decided to name him Lennie.

They traveled for a week by train, doing odd jobs at the stops so they could buy food or save up a little more money to pay the old couple when they arrived. George always had the rabbit though. He feed and watered it constantly. He slept with it and ate with it and, if Slim didn't take it away when he had to do his business, he would have done that with it too. It was almost like have the real Lennie with him.

The first thing they did when they got to the little farm was build a rabbit hutch. Then they planted alfalfa seeds and fixed up the house. They grew vegetables and fruits that they sold at the farmer's market and sold rabbit meat. But the one rabbit no one ever touched was the special white rabbit named Lennie, that George had a habit of sneaking into the room when the men weren't looking.

They never said a word.


End file.
